VISUAL ARTS

Topic of Study

Does Interpretation and perception of art bring about a differentiation in the works of Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky?

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Abstract

Art is an expression of thoughts and ideas to communicate one self. It maybe a childlike way or an amateur experimenting with forms of art or an artist trying with new techniques to explore. Even during the Cave Art period the simplest way of interpretation was the line drawings which conveyed a great meaning towards the creation of history of art. Various forms of expression can be perceived and interpreted by thousands of people .Some may use mediums to convey their emotions and communicate.

The techniques and methods of art that were common between me, as an amateur, and the artist Jackson Pollock is what amused me. I involuntarily felt like researching more on him and his styles. I also found Kandinsky’s work, having a lot of movement and force just like Pollock’s work of art but both were still different in application of lines and colour.

There I see an art of abstraction portraying perception and interpretation with mediums and techniques. Both being Modern Artist I chose to analyze the paintings of these two artists and come up with a topic that prevails my perception towards it.

Thus the question: ‘Does Interpretation and perception of art bring about a differentiation in the works of Jackson Pollock and Wassily

Kandinsky?’ Since the two artists have their unique differences of the art forms they are known for, I thought of interpreting their differences through my perception. The differences include selecting their line, style, application of colour. Though they both being forceful painters, Kandinsky worked as an abstractionist and Pollock worked as an Abstract expressionist.

Word Count: 263

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Table of Contents

Contents Pg. No.1 Introduction 12 Interpretation and Perception 23 Analysis- Comparison 54 Conclusion 195 Bibliography 206 Book Bibliography 217 Glossary 23

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INTRODUTION:

Art is one’s own individual creativity. It is also a medium of exchanging cultural ideas and awareness as it plays the role of a messenger. It can be in any form and is present all around us. Just like in our normal life different people think differently about a situation or a subject, art too can have varied perceptions. Each one interprets art through their, own excellence of understanding. Each

one’s visual ideas about a work could also differ pertaining to the aura that the painting sets in. Idealizing art in your own personal way is what perception of art is all about. Perception of art by a particular individual may also show his mindset. It’s like art judging the person. Each painting may not have the same appeal to every individual. Some work, which may have non-violence and signs of destruction may be liked by some and disliked by some. The perception of art by an observer can be completely different than the actual ideas of the artist.

Everybody’s ideas, views, thought processes and stream of consciousness are usually different. Perception can also be determined by the point of view from, which the painting is looked at. Looking at ones aspect of the painting, can give the observer some different meaning of the same thing, if seen from some other angle. Some perceive renaissance art, landscape and portraits to be a perfect art due to the structured format and claim that abstract is not an art. Other things like mood also help in changing one’s perception to an extent.

Without having a clear definition for art, art is how you perceive it to be according to your views. One can only talk about it if they look at it. Math and science mostly have a procedure to follow and therefore fixed, whereas art has freedom of expression and hence freedom of expression. Emotions play an important role in art. Art is, I think, an externalized form of playing with perception: moving from the center of our normal perceptual world to its edges and purposely stepping beyond. It’s one of the best ways I know to learn to experience the world differently, in a way that permanently enlarges the world, which you can perceive.

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Interpretation and Perception

Figure 1 1 An imagery Abstract art by children.

Interpretation and perception have a thin line between them. Interpretation involves analysis and a detailed study. People use their perception to interpret works differently. Everyone has their own justifications for their own interpretations. People may conclude a 180 degrees far apart meaning of a work than that of the artist who made it. Colors, texture, style, subject, brush strokes, rhythm are few things, which help in interpreting an artwork. Different colors are perceived differently. Brush strokes also portray the artist’s state of mind or also what kind of mindset he wants to portray. Every element of art has some kind of symbolism involved. A person’s style of thinking, his perception, affects his interpretation. It also depends on the point of view of the person. Interpretation also matters age-wise and experience wise. A child’s artwork is also interpreted differently. If just given a glimpse it may just look like some strokes but probably they have a deep meaning beneath them too. Random strokes by great artists are considered as expensive artworks whereas a child’s artwork is just a random work for most.

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Action painter: Pollock

1 Abstract by Children

During the time of 1940’s, Pollock used the technique of ‘ pouring paint ’ on his canvas. The term Action Painting originated from the same. His paint would flow on the canvas. American Painter Pollock is best known for his “splashed” Abstract Expressionism. His style influenced the American Abstract Expressionism.The Surrealists and Picasso influenced Pollock.

Figure 2 2 “Action Painting” - Jackson Pollock.

Pollock’s paintings usually have a webbed effect where there are many rhythmic lines put all together creating movement. He is considered an abstract painting because there is nothing realistic in his paintings. It is left for the viewers to

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interpret their own meaning. They may consider it just as a work with messy lines all over the canvas and confusion or perhaps find a concept or meaning behind it. They contain no shape or texture. It is the colors, which play a role in differentiating his works. Some of his works even involve his footprints as he followed the idea of immersing oneself in a painting. Pollock was known or stepping into the painting rather than standing away from his canvas, which most 2 Pollock Painting

artists did. He would immerse himself in his piece of artwork. This style of “stepping into his canvas” made him feel as if he is actually a part of the painting. His aim was to express his thoughts and feelings through his works rather than making it according to other people’s perception. Placing the canvas on the floor, he would walk over it and begin his splashes. Usually the artists fit their paintings according to the canvas but he would let his paintings go out of the canvas. This may show his flow of thoughts, which are limitless and he avoids bounding them. He numbered his works. Numbers are neutral and don’t give much meaning. Therefore the people look at the painting how they should, just like a ‘pure

painting’.

Abstractionist:Kandinsky

Kandinsky was an influential painter and was the founder of Figure 3

3 “Composition VII”

Abstract Expressionism. Kandinsky began the category of paintings, which he called improvisations. His famous ten compositions involve sharp tones of colors.

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Kandinsky’s ideas about his matter are portrayed through colors. He has a combination of geometric shapes and abstract in his works. Composition VII was the most complex piece he ever painted. Use of sharp tones creates rigidity. Shapes, lines and colors together make Kandinsky’s works. I have always been interested in symbols as condensed elements of meaning, but I hadn’t really considered the elements of the shapes as evocative. That is, I knew human beings invested meaning in shapes and colors. He used shapes in such a way that no one has really used before. 3 Composition VII by Kandinsky

Comparison through my Perception:

Comparison is carried out by analyzing the data according to time period, theme, style, colours.

Figure 4 4 COLOURS IN KANDINSKY Figure 5 5 COLOURS IN POLLOCK

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“ It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.” Jackson Pollock

"Colors are the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, and the soul is the piano with many strings.” Kandinsky

The Lines:

4 Kandinsky’s work

5 Pollock’s work

In the history of modern art, Pollock’s work shows a great development in the most radical abstract styles by redefining the concept of drawing and painting and searching for new means to create a space in the composition. Kandinsky’s painting shows influence of music in his works. We can observe and connect this through the flow of lines and shapes with colours.Both these artists show movement and force in lines showing depth in density by either making it thick and painting it complete as in Kandinsky lines are seen filled with the spaces. In Kandinsky’s paintings, lines are straight and filled in contrast to Pollock’s rhythmic interlocked lines. But somewhere in Pollock’s work the lines gather at various places on the canvas with a small amount of Black colour patches.

Figure 6 6 Shape and form of Pollock Figure 7 7 Shape and form of Kandinsky

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The Shapes:Kandinsky a pioneer who attempted to draw shapes to convey emotions and feelings directly on canvas rather than making it look real. Kandinsky showed shapes probably signifying the main elements of his ideas or thoughts. We notice him use a lot of basic geometrical shapes. He painted objects using patches of colours instead of painting perfect details in the artwork.On the other hand, Pollock’s works do not involve a single shape or form but it seems to be developed while splashing the colour. His strokes were forced, rapid and impulsive. He used knives to apply the paint.

6 Pollock’s work

7 Kandinsky’s work

Analyzing both the artists work’s I have gone through the “thought web” with too many questions in my mind!Then how do we interpret art? What does the form represent? Is there any symmetry evident in the artwork? How can a colour show emotion?Each human being has various interpretation and perception to art.Art being inevitable, perceptions will never end. It will differ from time to time, person to person, era to era and gene to gene. One single painting may have millions of perceptions but not all of them are accounted valid.

The Technique: Figure 8 Wassily

Kandinsky:

Conducting Colour.

Both Pollock and Kandinsky used natural grounds to start the works. Kandinsky’s style includes mixing sand with paint which, gave a granular texture whereas Pollock created textures of his footprints by stepping into his work.

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Pollock wanted to create his own style whereas Kandinsky got influences by theosophy. Pollock was popular as an action painter and Kandinsky was famous for improvisation. Pollock’s important feature

was the ‘all over ‘shapeless painting. On the other hand Kandinsky has his elements and proper geometric shapes. Kandinsky’s Abstract art shows no connection to the external world. The forms and shapes actually contained no reference to any object.

Figure 09 Jackson Pollock, 1912 –1956 Number71951 Figure 9 The technique shown by Ed Harris Jackson Pollock from the movie "Pollack’’

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Comparison in Totality of Paintings:

Figure 11 11“Landscape with Steer” Figure 12 12“Composition X”

‘Landscape with Steer’ is a painting done by Pollock. Early work of this painting was painted between 1936 and 1937, which illustrates the innovations with which Pollock experimented during that time.

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Technique: Pollock has used the Lithograph and airbrushing technique adding an abstract wash to the more realistic landscape.

Colour: Pollock has used the basic of three primary colors – blue, red and yellow green, which are visible merging with the background. The sharpness of colour seems to be dividing the painting into halves. There are no definite shapes used but just forms of colours as if camouflaged with the background. As the name of the painting suggests ‘steer’, the colours are applied in that direction. The dark shades are used to give the effect to show something related to sky or night - time. The red may similarly show dawn. It appears as if each color shows each time of day.

Where as in “ Composition X” Kandinsky has used all shades of colors: unlike the limited use of colors in ‘Landscape with Steer’ where merging the colors shows the transition from one color to another. The yellow I feel shows the ‘morning time’. Coming downward it ends with dark shades of green and use of black is

11 Pollock’s Landscape with Steer

12 Kandinsky’s Composition X

vital as its present all around the picture. Black has a huge emphasis on this work as it creates the impression of darkness and fear. The use of red color may give the impression of anger. The colors used at the bottom show a lot of struggle. The merging gives the blur effect, which may show unclearness.

Rhythm: Amidst all this turbulent and emotions of anger and fear, the movement maintains a rhythm. The main role of conveying the thoughts is done by the colors. The movement around the picture of the colors and the strokes is smooth. The tone of the painting is at least calmer at the top half and becomes sharp downwards. Therefore it is not much balanced.

Colours and Textures: The colors are dominant and the texture looks very rough. The use of curved lines adds to the smoothness, whereas the straight and

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sharp lines below make it look hard. The style of textures and colors give the painting the ‘real’ feel. The colors are a part of the positive space and the black is used as a background only to create contrast and balance. Putting black in the background puts it in a negative space, perhaps to dominate the color because he may want the brightness to dominate the black. The colors appear sharp against the background. Only a part of the landscape has been shown but that in itself looks very real and conveys the right tone and mood to the viewers. Kandinsky’s painting gives an overall feeling of something bright, lively and vibrant due to its colours. It also gives the feeling that all wishes will sail or fly smoothly. The elements appear to be flying high and give the feeling of some view of an outer space or universal objects. The elements have their own proper, perfect shape with the same amount of colours. This art without any smudging is more like a child art done neatly. The sharpness avoids continuity, which makes each element stand out on its own

Composition: Kandinsky always related his compositions to musical compositions. I could see the carefully balanced forms and shapes all the elements well placed to evoke the aesthetic and emotional response from the

viewer. In “Composition X” Kandinsky expressed his inner self with a series of Compositions at various stages. This may be his culmination of efforts towards “pure painting”. This was his final work in the series. In this work of art you may feel varied colors are used in compare to Pollock’s composition. Due to so many colors the painting looks bright and colors are bold and sharp. There is no merging of colors here. He has coloured every form with pure single colour tone without mixing .This helps in maintaining the value the colour. No color overshadows the other. The elements of art like line is are curved and straight. It involves most of the principles of design. It has balance and harmony. The positive space is utilized properly. Being the tenth and the last work of his compositions, it gives a proper ending to his works as it has a very ‘happy’ and ‘cheerful’ look.

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An investigation of paintings:

Figu re 13 13“T riad”

1948 Figure 14 14“Black Triangle”

13 Triad by Pollock

14 Black Triangle by Kandinsky

“Triad” made in 1948, by Pollock is a monochromatic painting. It has use of only black and white. This selection can show contrasting ideas or contrasting ideas resulting in unity. Black is the background and white is used to depict figures. This creates a contrast between the figures and the background. The background is plain and dark whereas the white is made up of random lines.

The white lines make up the skeleton, which is the structure of the human body. Although there is only black and white used, the painting looks vibrant as the type of paints use are fresh and bright. The background doesn’t show much but only plainness and darkness. The ‘random’ white lines show rhythm and movement.

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Figures maintain a balance in the picture due to their placement. Even the black and white creates a balance. The two figures are not geometric and have no proper shape, which again reminds us that this is

Pollock’s forms appear to be holding something perhaps some kind of instrument. The right figure has a guitar shaped lines next to it. The knob board and the body can be figured out easily. The figure on the left also holds some sort of instrument. There are few splashes of paint near the figures perhaps showing Pollock’s splash trademark. Just like most of the other works of Pollock, this one too is not clear in its concept.

“Black Triangle” made in 1925 consists of limited colours. It has use of dull colors with dark tones. The maximum colors are concentrated only on the figure, to focus on it, which is the positive space and the background has shades of green. The negative space has not been given many colors. Different shapes combine together to form one whole figure. The figure in the painting is a human figure in armor. This portrays that maybe that artist is trying to show aggression or something related to war. It may also portray how a knight is before or after a war. The painting has not much of background and is focused on the

armor. The armor has been made up of shapes or rather the shapes are placed in order to make armor. The triangles and a semi circle are effectively used to make the knight’s legs and face respectively. The corners and the side of the background have blackness shaded, which is also merging with the gray or greenish part of the background. The use of purple helps in creating the armor to become the focal point of this painting. The semi circle in red shows a mix of black in it. It also catches attention due to the mix of the colors and also the use of red

Colour, which is not present anywhere in the picture as the painting has use of cool and dark colors and red is suddenly put in the middle. It is just like “composition X” where the use of the green ball with colors merging is different from the rest of the painting.

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This creates continuity and shows the similarities between the two works by the same artists. There is no rhythm in the picture because the single figure has no movement. The two works “Triad” and “Black Triangle” are similar as they both use figures but show them in different techniques.

While I was researching, I was curious to understand if others felt the same so I interviewed different age levels and identities. I took up few paintings to analyze according to others point of view.

Figure 15 15 “Number 8”, 1949 Oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas, Neuberger Museum, State University of New York.

15 Number 8 by Pollock

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Interviewing the Audience:

For analyzing the above artwork and to know more about perception, I decided to question a group of children around the age of 5- 8 yrs.

(Children)According to the children, the painting gave a look of a dense forest to them with green playing the role of trees and the lines as branches, I feel this may be due to the brown color. It looked to them like some ‘jungle-party’ happening. They couldn’t trace a particular meaning out of it. It overall looked like a spider’s web to one of them. The other interpreted it as blood falling from the ‘trees’, maybe due to the use of red color towards the bottom of the painting. They almost ended up proving that the painting is against deforestation, which no adult can even think of looking at this work. One of those child expressed that the painting looked liked as if it was sowing cracks and something like a broken glass. This was children’s interpretation about this work of Pollock. Kids seem to have a different world of their own and interpret different from adults.

I interviewed my teachers and our librarian to interpret this painting, which are nowhere connected to art and painting.

What they would perceive and interpret in the work of art done by Jackson Pollock titled “Number 8”.

(Librarian) Our librarian could see a fish jumping out of the water in a painting, maybe a shark. Due to the shark it gave him an overall feel of violence and also the colour red played the role of signifying blood and danger. He could relate this work with a dream.

The forest look, which the kids interpreted, gave the librarian the look of autumn and the painting’s concept seemed very environmentally focused.

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(Teacher)A homeroom teacher interpreted as creepers and leaves around. Also could see an electric bulb in the work, which is a unique observation and different from others. According to her, the painting also gives the feel as if everything is coming out bursting or like blast from a focal point and everything scattered around all over the place. (Counselor)Next was a counselor, Ms. Rene could relate the piece with some kind of war happening in the woods. She relates the splashes with snow. She could also see the image of an arrow and the red paint as blood, which led to her thoughts concluding the painting as an aggressive one.

According to me Pollock’s “Number 8” in one glimpse gives me a feeling of confusion and dull effect due to rhythmic lines creating movement in random directions and splash of colours. The

random lines show no steady thoughts and that the artist probably moved his thoughts to any direction with the help of the lines. No shape and structure leaves the viewers unclear. Specific colors used but that too are splashed anywhere. The black is very much visible and attracts the eyes the most, which makes the work look little bright. The colors give a dull effect due to the use of warm colors like red and yellow. Amongst this confusion also, we can interpret objects in this. The black line can play the role of wings of a butterfly. English alphabets can also be found connecting the colors like ‘D’ (the black line) and ‘H’. At the bottom the yellow splash gives the look of a dancing girl in her own world and a deer next to it. Towards the bottom right, we can see a person sitting, resting his back at the right side of the work and looking at us. He selects simpler forms of nature and transferred into our work.

Figure 1616 “Composition VII”

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Interpretation of the composition of Kandinsky’s work according to me:

I feel Kandinsky’s “Composition VII” has more shapes along with complementary colours. We can see different types of shapes like a triad, waves, letters, forms, net etc. The use of colors is something I liked here. I feel there is an appropriate use of colors with the shapes. The colours are merges with each other, which makes it appear blur. The statement ‘Sharpness of Blur’ fits here perfectly. The red and blue circle at the top seems sharper than merged. Blurred splash of English alphabets are also visible in this like ‘P’ and ‘L’. Kandinsky has shown sense of expression with the help of shapes and colors sharpness of blur. The blue horizontal line looks like a part of the Eiffel tower. A yellow parrot can also be seen on the right. The nets seem to be some kind of railway track. The left bottom

16 Composition VII by Kandinsky

most side has a paw made with the help of the lines. The painting gives a happy and a cheerful look. The focal point here looks like the black circle kind of a shape in the centre and the red and blue clear circle on top.

I happen to show the same group of children and teachers the above painting. (Children)The children came up with the idea that many insects fighting all around. Children could spot bugs and insect like figures. A heart, boat and a guitar were spotted too. It gave them the feeling of everything smashed together. This painting was introduced to my librarian for him it felt like a festive and a celebration mood. It seemed to him like the coronation of a king, which is the black focal point and the all other his ministers around him, which are the other shapes around it forming a circle.

(Teacher)The Primary teacher’s first word was “Complicated”. That was her first feeling when she looked at the painting. The painting is ‘bright and vibrant’. The focal point seemed to her like a man weaving a thread and all the random shapes coming out of his weaving. The other focal point, the circle stands out according to her.

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(Counselor)To the Counselor it gave her a fun and party mood. The painting looks like very impulsive done and with spontaneity. A paintbrush, peacock, clouds and ships were visible to her in the work.

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Conclusion:

Different people of different age groups, different profession and none related to art had different views regarding a single work. Their perceptions show how there is differences in the works of both the artists. My perception and interpretation create difference in the works. My thinking, use of shapes, lines, colors and concepts make them different from one another. Different people’s thinking also creates differences.

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Bibliography1) (htt) http://www.theartstory.org/artist-pollock-jackson.htm.

2)(htt1)http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Wassily_Kandinsky's_art_style#ixzz1euM2uYBT

3) "What Is Wassily Kandinsky's Art Style." The Q&A Wiki. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Wassily_Kandinsky's_art_style>.

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"HowStuffWorks "How Jackson Pollock Worked"" HowStuffWorks "Entertainment" Web. 09 Jan. 2012. <http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/jackson-pollock3.htm>.

6) (htt4) http://www.theartstory.org/artist-pollock-jackson.htm.

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8) "What Is Wassily Kandinsky's Art Style?" The Q&A Wiki. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Wassily_Kandinsky's_art_style>.

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-21- (htt7)http://painting.about.com/od/colourtheory/a/Pollock_paint.htm.

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13) (htt10)http://jinawallwork.blogspot.com/2010/05/composition-7-by-wassily kandinsky.html - kand pic compositon 7

15) (htt11)http://www.linesandcolors.com/2006/09/21/jacksonpollockorg

"Lines and Colors :: A Blog about Drawing, Painting, Illustration, Comics, Concept Art and Other Visual Arts » JacksonPollock.org." Lines and Colors :: A Blog about Drawing, Painting, Illustration, Comics, Concept Art and Other Visual Arts. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. <http://www.linesandcolors.com/2006/09/21/jacksonpollockorg>.

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"Jackson Pollock Quotes - BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jackson_pollock.html>.

17) http://www.squidoo.com/my-abstract-paintings

"My Abstract Paintings." Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <http://www.squidoo.com/my-abstract-paintings>.

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"Action Painting." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_painting>.

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"Jackson Pollock Quotes - BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jackson_pollock.html>.

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"My Abstract Paintings." Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.squidoo.com/my-abstract-paintings>.

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Bibliography of Books

The books I have referred to are -

1) “Kandinsky’’ is written by Ulrike becks-MolornyPublished by – TASCHEN GmbHHohenzollernring 53,

D – 50672 Koln.Published in the year 2007.

2) “Jackson Pollock” is written by LandauPublished by Thames and Hudson181A High Holborn,London WC1V 7QXPublished in the year 1989.

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Glossary

Action painting – A style of painting or an artwork in which paint is splashed on the canvas, rather than being carefully applied.

Improvisation- It is making and creating art in a moment and with one’s immediate environment and inner most feelings.

Works of Pollock -

1) Landscape with Steer

2) Number 8

3) Triad

Works of Kandinsky -

1) Composition X

2) Composition VII

3) Black Triangle